The Blackmail® [Complete]

Chapter Three

Okay so I noticed you reading, yes you! And not saying anything. Just curious though. You like it or not?!

Oh well, I will continue.

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Finally home and in my room, I almost wished I was back at the hospital. Their beds were much better than what I sleep on in my room. Although, I was feeling much better, I was a little sore in some places. As I bent down to pick up my laundry, a sharp pain shot through my back and as I reach behind me with my left hand, another pain shot through my arm and I cried out and Taylor rushed into my room.

"Tania! You are so stubborn! You are not supposed to be doing anything yet! Come sit down please before you rip apart all your stitches."

I allowed her to help me stretch out on my bed. My breath was slowly returning and I closed my eyes. For a second, my eyes had gone dizzy. "I thought I could clear up some of my dirty clothes so the room can smell-"

"Who cares if your room smells like a dumpster?" She asked wrinkling her nose just the same. She was wearing her uniform for the bakery where she worked. "Mr. Cotton will have my head if I show up to work late after taking off all of yesterday. So please, I need you to promise me that you will take it easy."

I smiled. "Don't worry, I won't overwork myself. I promise. But you know, we can be okay for at least a week, while you find a better paying job." The money the prince gave us was ten thousand dollars. It was enough for us to be comfortable for over a month if we didn't clear up some outstanding bills. But we needed to clear the basics such as water, electricity, and rent.

"That is your motto, Princess. You don't want to work. All you want is to marry a rich man so all your problems can be over. You can do that, hell, you can even pull it off. But I can't. I don't have the grace or beauty as you do. As much as I'm grateful for the money we got, it must not repeat itself. Maybe next time I tell you to sit your luscious behind down, you will.

I groaned. "You couldn't resist right?"

"What?" She grinned. "I didn't say it!"

"Say what?"

"I told you so!"

"There we have it! Finally, I was wondering where the Taylor I knew was."

We both laughed. "Got to go, bye!" And she sauntered out the door.

I nodded and winced. It seemed every part of me was aching.

-------------------------------------------

In all my twenty-two years, I don't recall ever feeling so exhausted. It was frustrating. I had managed to do all the laundry, including Taylor's. I had arranged our shared sitting room and our individual rooms. I was leaning on the kitchen counter contemplating what I could make for lunch. After all that chore, I realized I hadn't eaten anything save for a leftover toast from last night.

After resting a bit, I managed to get to my room and fall into my bed. It may not be as perfect but it will do. And I promptly drifted off to sleep.

"Wake up, Tania. I brought you some soup." She said as she placed the bowl of soup on the night table beside my bed.

"Um thank you." I yawned. I checked the clock. I had slept for three hours. "How was work?" I asked sitting up.

"As usual. Today's done."

"Yeah." I murmured as I reached for my soup.

She sat down beside me on the bed and said, "So I've been thinking." She hesitated, "I think we should forget about the prince, you know."

"Yes," I acquiesed. "Since we don't have any proof."

She nodded. "Even if we did, how can one blackmail the prince of our beloved land? That's very dangerous."

I took a sip of the hot soup and nodded, agreeing with her. I kept thinking, how great it would have been if we had realized who they were earlier. We would have gotten way more than what he gave us. I sighed. Well, its a pity. My plans just went up in smoke.

There had been a party at the Firegate Estate on the east side of the Republic on the night of the accident. That was where I was headed before the accident. It had attracted the movers and shakers of the Republic and I knew that if I could get in, I would snag someone very wealthy, and sink my tentacles into him until he proposes marriage. Marriage that I had run away from four years ago. Now, I needed it in order to survive.

I sighed again, putting down the soup. Right from the age of fifteen when I began to fill out in all the right places, I had already begun to turn heads. By the age of 16, I looked over 18 and men started coming for my hand in marriage. Oh they came, young, old and even the already married. My mother, bless her soul, protected me. She worked hard to provide for me until I was through with high school so I wouldn't give in to the pressure.

But I didn't know she wasn't going to be around forever. She died when I was eighteen. After her death, they took the house since the mortgage was long past due. I had an aunt in Wisteriar but I didn't want to go there. If I had, she would have married me off immediately and collected my dowry.

The Republic had strict rules against a girl being eighteen and unmarried. The female child only studied as far as high school and after that its marriage. If you don't have a suitor, you will be provided one, anyone. Although, I had suitors coming out of my ears, I wasn't ready to live my life that way. At the whims of some foolish and degrading laws. And so I ran away to Tuncan County. Tuncan County was a place for the outlaws or rather, for people who were running away from the law.

That was where I met Taylor Wendell. She was a struggling young lady who had runaway from home. She had detested the suitor the government had forced upon her. Taylor had become an orphan from the age of four and had been raised by the system. We became fast friends and we worked and scrapped until we could get the apartment where we currently live in.

But I am tired of doing that kind of work. The only work available here were menial jobs that paid less than was deserved. After, my last job which I walked out of two days before the accident, I decided, I needed to do something. I couldn't continue to live like this. And that was why I decided to create my own opportunity since none seemed to be in sight.

Back to the Prince, even though I knew there was nothing we could do, something kept nagging at me. What were the princes looking for in Tuncan County?

Who else is wondering about that?
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